Saturday, April 14, 2012

Gutti Vankaya(Stuffed Eggplant)

Ingredients

7-8 small Indian eggplants
2-3 tbsp oil
1 cup of Kura podi(Lentil spice mixture)
1/4 cup water
1/4 tsp of tamarind paste

Recipe

Wash and clean the eggplants.
Take an eggplant retain the green stem and make a cross cut on the opposite side.
Stuff the eggplant with the lentil spice mixture.
Heat a pan and add oil.
Add the stuffed eggplants into pan once the oil is hot.
Cover and cook on medium low heat.
Sprinkle water on to the pan if it looks like the eggplants are getting burnt and again cover and cook.
Repeat the above two steps till the eggplants are tender soft and completely cooked.
To know if the eggplants are cooked, press the area under the green stem on the eggplant with the back of a spoon.It should be soft to touch.
Take a bowl and add the tamarind paste and some water to make the consistency thin.
Sprinkle this tamarind water on to the cooked eggplants.
Serve hot with rice.

Friday, April 13, 2012

Quick Spinach Saute

Quick Spinach Saute

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups of fresh or frozen spinach
1 small red onion finely chopped
1/2 inch ginger grated
2 Thai chillies finely chopped
1/2 tsp of urad daal/black gram
1/2 tsp of chana daal/bengal gram
1/2 tsp of mustard seeds
1/2 tsp of cumin seeds
Pinch of asafoetida
5-6 curry leaves chopped
1 Tbs of oil
Salt to taste

Recipe:

Heat a pan and add oil.
Once oil is hot add chana daal, urad daal, asafoetida, mustard seeds, cumin seeds and fry till the color changes to light brown.
Add curry leaves, grated ginger, chopped green chillies and fry for a minute.
Add finely chopped onion and saute till they turn translucent.
Add chopped spinach and saute till the leaves wilt.
Add salt to taste.
Serve hot with rice/phulka.

Phulka- Flat Bread made with Whole Wheat Flour


Phulka


Ingredients

1 cup of whole wheat flour(Makes 5 medium sized phulkas)
3/4 cup of water
1 tsp of oil
Butter/oil to apply on top


Recipe

Add the Whole wheat flour into a bowl.

Add dry flour to a bowl
Slowly add water to the dry flour and keep mixing.
After mixing in all the water the dough should look something like below.
Mix in water to the flour

Knead the dough for a minimum of 5 minutes.
After 5 minutes it should look soft and smooth, something like below
Soft and smooth dough after kneading for 5 minutes
The dough should not be too hard  or too soft  (it should not be sticking to the hands).
Drizzle 2-3 drops of oil on the dough,spread it evenly.
Cover and let it rest for 10-15 minutes.
Cover and rest
After 10 minutes, knead the dough for half a minute and make balls of equal size

Make balls

Heat up a flat griddle/Tawa . Medium-high is the usual setting that i use. A really hot griddle is the secret behind a good phulka.

Take one ball and dust it in dry whole wheat flour
Dust in dry flour
Start rolling with the help of a rolling pin.
Make sure that the thickness is even. If the phulka is uneven, then it may not fluff up.
Roll it even and flat
Put it on the hot tawa/griddle.
Put it on the hot tawa
Once the color starts to change and there are some brown spots on the bottom of phulka , flip it and let the other side cook for couple of seconds till some brown spots appear.
Flip once brown spots appear
Once the second side also gets brown spots,put it directly on the flame or here, i am using a steel mesh over an electric coil. This mesh can also be used on flame.
Put it directly on flame

Once the phulka puffs up turn it to the other side and keep it on for couple of seconds so that there are no uncooked spots.
Puffs up

Take off the flame and put it on a plate.
Apply oil/ghee on top and cover it with a tissue paper. This step can be ignored by health conscious people.
Stacked up phulkas
Serve hot with curry/daal/raita.

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Anapakaya nuvvula podi kura(Bottle gourd with Sesame seeds powder curry)

Bottle gourd with sesame seed powder

Ingredients

1 medium size bottle gourd
1 cup of sesame seed powder(Recipe here)
1 tsp of chana daal
1 tsp of urad daal
1 tsp of mustard seeds
1 tsp of cumin seeds
1 dry red chilli
Pinch of hing
Sprig of curry leaves
2 Tbsps of oil(olive/canola/vegetable)
1 cup water to cook the bottle gourd

Recipe

Heat pan and add oil and warm it up.
Once oil is hot add chana daal, urad daal, asafoetida, mustard seeds, cumin seeds and fry till the color changes to light brown.
Add red chilli, curry leaves.
Add chopped bottle gourd 1/2 cup of water.
Cover it and cook till bottle gourd is completely cooked. It usually takes around 10-15 minutes on medium heat.
Keep an eye on bottle gourd and make sure to mix it couple of times in between.
Once bottle gourd is completely cooked add the sesame seed powder.
Mix well and serve with hot white rice.

Spinach moong daal


Spinach Moong daal

Ingredients

3 cups of finely chopped spinach
1/2 cup of yellow moong daal
2 table spoons of sambhar powder
1/2 table spoon of tamarind paste
salt to taste
1/2 tea spoon of mustard seeds
1/2 tea spoon of cumin seeds
Pinch of hing
1 dry red chilli
1 sprig of curry leaves
2 table spoons of olive/canola/vegetable oil

Recipe

Heat a pan.
Add oil and warm it up.
Add mustard and cumin seeds. let them splutter.
Add red chillies,curry leaves and hing.
Add the finely chopped Spinach.
Saute till all the water evaporates from Spinach.
Once Spinach looks done, add the turmeric powder and Sambhar powder.
Saute for a minute.
Now add the cooked moong daal into the spinach mixture. (pressure cook moong daal for 3 whistles)
Take tamarind paste and add some water to thin it down.Fresh tamarind can also be used instead of paste. Take a lemon ball size tamarind. Let it soak for couple of minutes in water and squeeze the pulp out.
Add 1 cup of water and simmer for 4-5 mins.
Serve hot with Rice/Phulka/chapathi.

Cabbage potato curry



Cabbage Potato Curry

Ingredients

1 small Cabbage chopped
1 big potato chopped into bite size pieces
2 table spoons of tomato paste
1 tea spoon red chilli powder
1/2 tea spoon turmeric powder
1 tea spoon of cumin powder
1/2 tea spoon of Garam masala
chopped coriander for garnishing
1/2 cup water
1 table spoon of olive oil/canola/vegetable etc.
salt to taste

Recipe

Heat up a pan.
Add oil of your preference to the pan and warm it up.
Add the chopped cabbage and potato pieces.
Saute for 2 minutes.
Take the tomato paste in a small cup. Add some water to it.This is to make it less dense and it is easier to mix in.
Saute for another 2 minutes.
Add the red chilli , turmeric , cumin powder,  and salt to taste. Mix well.
Saute for a minute.
Add the remaining water into it, mix well. Cover it and cook till the vegetables look done. Make sure to keep an eye on the curry so that it does not get burnt, the heat settings may vary.Add some more water if needed. It took me around 10 minutes on medium heat for the potatoes to get cooked.
Garnish with chopped cilantro.
Serve with hot rice or phulka.